Canada finds inspiration in Danish elderly care

On October 23-25, a Canadian delegation of executives and healthcare clinicians and professionals from Toronto visited Copenhagen, Denmark, to explore and learn about Danish elder care.

On October 23 at noon, the delegates started their program at the Ministry of Health, where they had an introduction to the Danish healthcare system and elderly care followed by a dialogue session. Rounding off the day, the delegates headed north to Humlebæk in Fredensborg Municipality, where they visited Else Mariehjemmet, which is a private nursing home for elderly citizens in need of care around the clock. Here, the delegates had a chance to explore the facility and learned about the nursing home’s strong focus on the resident’s physical activities and nutrition intake.

On October 24, the delegates visited Wellness Nordic, who works with assistive technology for cognitive and sensory stimulation for patients suffering from dementia, ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disturbances and brain damage. Here, the delegates also met with the owners of MusicCure, who compose music for therapeutic purposes. The music is created specifically to have a relaxing, soothing and positive mentally stimulating effect. The delegates had the opportunity to see a demonstration of the MusicCure Pillow, which is a memory foam pillow with developed built-in speakers, so the patients can listen to the music without having to wear headphones or earplugs.

After lunch, the delegates visited Living Lab Strandvejen, which is a living lab designed as a real apartment and offers a real-life test environment. Here, developers and end-users can test new technological solutions to ensure that they are usable and contribute to help elderly citizens to live more independently.

On October 25, the delegation started the program with a visit to Tysingehave care home & day center, which is a public-private partnership between the municipality of Holbæk and the Danish Deacon Homes, who own several nursing homes in Denmark. Here, the delegates were on a guided tour, where they got the chance to fully explore the facility followed by a presentation on how technology is transforming care as well as the service model of the Danish Deacon Homes. Additionally, the delegation heard a presentation about the process, values, and focus of the nursing home. Finally, on the last stop of the program, the delegation participated in a healthy aging workshop, facilitated by Mr. Bogi Eliasen, on how the future of the Danish healthcare system looks like. Here, the delegates also heard about the future of healthy aging and how to prepare for the future by acquiring the right competencies, systems, and mindsets.

The delegation visit was organized and hosted by Healthcare DENMARK in close collaboration with The Royal Danish Consulate General in Toronto. For more information about this visit, please contact Chief Consultant Anne Beck Henriksen.

If you are interested in visiting Denmark and seeing these or other Danish healthcare solutions and initiatives yourself, please do not hesitate to request a visit. Healthcare DENMARK will tailor a program to your specific preferences and assist with planning local transportation and accommodation.